Two pals among those confirmed missing from Texas Christian camp after devastating flooding
About 23 girls are missing after torrential rains flooded the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, washing away cabins and buildings at Camp Mystic Thursday night into Friday.
Most people were evacuated from the Christian girls' camp — attended by girls between the ages of 7 and 17 — as floodwaters rose, but some kids were left behind and believed to be lost in the rushing water.
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8 Camp Mystic, a Christian girls' camp, was evacuated Thursday night into Friday, but some girls were left behind and are not missing, officials said.
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The Guadalupe River — on which Camp Mystic is perched in the San Antonio suburb of Hunt — rose more than 20 feet in just 90 minutes, the National Weather Service reported, a level of flooding the area hasn't seen since 1987 and forced evacuations throughout the region.
At least 13 people have been killed in Kerr County as of Friday, though it remains unclear if any were the missing girls.
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After Camp Mystic advised parents that if they haven't been directly contacted to assume their daughters are accounted for and safe, officials cautioned parents not to assume the worst.
'That does not mean they've been lost. They could be in a tree. They could be out of communication,' Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said at a press conference. 'We're praying for all those missing to be found alive.'
Below are the Camp Mystic girls who have confirmed missing so far:
8 Hadley Hannah, 8, is among the 23 girls missing in the floods that hit Camp Mystic in Texas Thursday night into Friday
WFAA 8
Hadley Hanna, 8
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Hadley Hanna's parents told WFAA their cherubic 8-year-old was among the girls confirmed missing, and that they've rushed to Hunt from their Dallas home to be on hand for the search.
8 Laiey Landry is among the missing campers.
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Lainey Landry, 9
The mother of 9-year-old camper Lainey Landry told CNN her missing daughter was 'brave and sweet.'
8 Eloise Peck and Lila Bonner, two pals from Dallas, are reportedly missing after devastating floods struck Camp Mystic.
Keenan Willard/X
Eloise Peck
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The Dallas girl was in the same cabin as several friends who have also been reported missing, her parents told Fox 4.
Lila Bonner
A Dallas native, Lila was seen smiling with her arms around her missing friend, Eloise Peck, in a heart-wrenching photo circulated by her parents and shared by Fox 4.
8 Renee Smajstrla hasn't been found since flooding swept her and friends away.
Keenan Willard/X
Renee Smajstrla
Young Renee was in the same cabin as Eloise and Lila, and her parents told NBC DFW she was confirmed missing with them.
8 Janie Hunt's parents say they're praying their daughter will be found.
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Janie Hunt
'We are just praying,' Janie's distraught mother told CNN.
8 Kellyanne Lytal hasn't been found since flooding swept through Camp Mystic.
Keenan Willard/X
Kellyanne Lytal
Camper Kellyanne Lytal is also among the missing, according to Fox 4.
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8 Virginia Hollis is unaccounted for after flooding swept through Camp Mystic
News Nation
Virginia Hollis
Virginia Hollis has also been confirmed missing, according to WANE.
Greta Toranzo
Greta Toranzo, who attends Sinclair Elementary School in Houston, was also confirmed missing, according to the Houston Chronicle.
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As flocks of young girls from the intermediate and senior cabins evacuated to the recreation center, Clement and fellow staff members also piled up their belongings onto their beds, figuring the water wouldn't reach there, Clement said. Even if it did, the mattresses would float, they thought. That's when their cabin door snapped in half. The water suddenly burst in. 'Then we were like, 'OK, we need to get out of here,'' Clement recounted. Clement forcefully pried open the other cabin door as the water pulled against it. Once they were able to exit the cabin, the college-aged staffers dispersed along the porch, holding columns to keep steady. When the water reached their shoulders, they knew it was no longer safe there. They had to escape to higher ground. The girls from Bug House made it to the recreation hall around 3 a.m. local time, a 12-year-old camper recounted. The next several hours were 'a blur of prayer, singing, and confusion,' Owens, their counselor, said. With only flashlights to see through the darkness, hundreds of girls spent the night on the second floor of the hall. Their belongings were left on cheer mats – with some floating away. The recreation hall was no longer a fun performance space, where girls would put on colorful costumes and act, sing and dance. 'Everyone was scared, because there was water coming in, and the water started coming in really fast,' the 12-year-old, whose mother did not want her family to be named to protect their privacy, said. Meanwhile, at Chatterbox cabin, her 9-year-old twin sisters saw a car they thought would be rescuing them float away. So the counselors told them to climb out of the window, one by one, the twins said. 'The water was really high, so we walked over, and the counselors were helping us get over,' one of the twins said. When they got to a hilly area, the counselors realized three of the Chatterbox girls were missing, so they went back to search for them, the twins said. 'It was really, really scary because we didn't know where they were. We didn't know if they got washed away in the rapids. We didn't know anything,' one of the twins said. By then, Clement – using the windowsill as a foothold – hoisted herself onto the roof, clutching her phone, wallet and a soaked stuffed animal she's had since she was 2 years old. Then she helped pull other camp employees up, embodying the camp's motto of 'Be Ye Kind, One to Another.' When one staffer who was trying to get on the roof got swept away and caught on a volleyball net, the others tied their shirts together to help, only to find that the staffer swam against the current and made it back, Clement said. The others went back down and helped lift her onto the roof. Once safe, the Chatterbox children – soaked and freezing – cuddled on the hill. Counselors brought the girls water while they waited 'so long' for the flooding to recede. 'Whenever we were cold, they kept giving us hugs and when we were crying, they would always comfort us,' one of the 9-year-old twins said. The twins soon saw a rainbow, which they interpreted as 'a sign from God.' To pass the time, the girls at the recreation hall sang camp and worship songs, prayed and slept until the rain eventually stopped around 6 a.m. When they heard the campers singing nearby, the staffers on the roof felt relieved. 'It was like a sense of hope, even though at that point, the water was still up really high,' Clement said. The staffers took turns praying as a group, hoping the little girls made it out safely, Clement recalled. At the recreation hall, counselors did a roll call. That's when it hit the girls that some of their friends could be lost in the waters. 'Nobody probably would have thought that anyone would be missing,' the 12-year-old girl said. 'You think maybe they're just somewhere else, they're probably just with another group.' The campers' next stop: the Cypress Lake dining hall. In their five hours there, the exhausted girls kept themselves busy by doing arts and crafts and trying to sleep on tables. Nibbling at the pizza counselors handed out, the 12-year-old camper couldn't help but think her cabin 'was probably fully submerged underwater, like this stuff was just gone.' Later that morning, Zárate and Garza Valdez got word they would be evacuated. 'All the girls started panicking, they all began crying because they didn't want to leave the campgrounds, because they wanted to be with their parents,' Garza Valdez told news channel N+ FORO. Finally, helicopters arrived to bring the hundreds of girls and their counselors to safety. The girls were soon loaded onto buses, some barefoot with cuts on their feet after losing their shoes in the rapids. Lucy, the 10-year-old camper, had given away her Crocs to another camper whose shoes were swept away. On one bus, the girls sang a hymn called 'Pass It On.' Then there were gasps and exclamations of 'oh my God' as the girls laid their eyes on the scale of the disaster. Cars stacked up on top of each other and turned upside down. Piles upon piles of debris in place of their beloved second home. Walls ripped off of the buildings where they made their summer memories with friends turned sisters. Now, word was starting to spread of campers still unaccounted for. 'Wake up, Caroline, wake up. This is not real. I'm in a dream,' Cutrona told herself. Parents held their breaths, agonizingly waiting and praying the goodbyes they said to their daughters would not be their last. Hundreds of local, state and federal crews in helicopters and on boats began the extensive search for the girls that afternoon, combing the area and picking up campers and their counselors out of trees. The girls who made it onto the school buses arrived at Ingram Elementary, where they were reunited in tearful embraces. It had been a long day for the cold, hungry and sleep-deprived children, who were emotionally shaken and ready to head home. Only days later would the fallout come into focus: At least 27 campers and counselors were dead. Young and old generations of campgoers, who credit the almost century-old Camp Mystic for shaping them and teaching them essential life skills, were left to grapple with the devastation. At a Monday vigil honoring the victims, Stacey Merchant said she received the first letter her 12-year-old daughter, Reese, sent from camp in the mailbox Monday. Her daughter was safely evacuated. 'I just realized today that some parents are gonna be getting letters, that first letter, from their daughter today,' Merchant told CNN affiliate KTRK as her voice broke. 'And that's heartbreaking to even imagine.' Mourners linked hands, singing, 'From the lake, from the hills, from the sky; all is well, safely rest, God is nigh. Goodnight, Camp Mystic, we love you.' CNN's Anderson Cooper, Ed Lavandera, Caroll Alvarado, Graham Hurley, Cindy Von Quednow, Aditi Sangal, Sarah Dewberry, Shoshana Dubnow, Sara Smart, Emma Tucker and Taylor Galgano contributed to this report.
